


Family Time is What You Make It

by Arkee, Asylos, LeGayWardens, Pixeled, sosakashii



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Family Bonding, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 06:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13118403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arkee/pseuds/Arkee, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asylos/pseuds/Asylos, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeGayWardens/pseuds/LeGayWardens, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixeled/pseuds/Pixeled, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sosakashii/pseuds/sosakashii
Summary: Vincent never expected a child to raise, but he was going to make the best of it.





	Family Time is What You Make It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DyraDoodles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DyraDoodles/gifts).



> This is a group project.

The birth of a child was normally accompanied by screams of pain followed by joy. It was a noisy affair, and a time of celebration. Sephiroth’s birth was not so.

The lab was mostly quiet, outside of the assistant calling out vitals at regular intervals in a clinical tone. Vincent watched from the shadows, like any Turk on guard. The fact that this was his child did not change protocol. In fact, were it not for his presence being needed to provide silent protection he would not have even been allowed to observe this great wonder of science.

When the birthing was complete, and Hojo had taken the child for examination, the Turk managed to get close enough to give Lucrecia’s hand a squeeze. She smiled at him as he pushed her bangs from her sweaty forehead. Then she closed her eyes and alarms began to sound.

It was nearly half a year before there was a knock at his office door and a screaming infant was thrust into his arms. “There’s too much of you in him,” the Professor has said angrily. “And he’s far too needy for my schedule. You can handle the parenting. I’ll send you the list of appointments I expect him returned for.” And with that the Turk was left with a bundle staring up at him with bright eyes.

He made some calls, and before long had learned how to wrap the baby properly to fit under his cloak. Sephiroth was a curious child, but a quiet one. While it unnerved some of the others at the office who were used to being around children, Vincent found it perfect. He could take Sephiroth with him anywhere, with none the wiser. He even had a pair of headphones to protect the baby’s ears if any shooting started. Sally at the office had knit them a soft green cover.

(At moments such as those, when he got gifts for or that helped with the child, he almost felt like a conventional parent. _Almost_ , as the kind of job he had — along with its demands — made raising a kid far from being an average experience.)

 

—

 

When he was old enough to start training, Hojo stepped in more fully, and Vincent quickly found himself being sent away on missions again. Sephiroth learned to save his “Why”s for when Vincent returned. Hojo had no interest in questions from his specimen, and the other soldiers had no time for this child they had been forced to babysit. When their paths managed to cross, there were long nights beneath the dark sky spent in contemplation.

Vincent almost forgot that Sephiroth was still a child. He had grown so much in such a short time and had learned so much of the world and its evils. He found himself struggling to answer some of the boy’s questions. He was guiltily relieved that Sephiroth never asked about his mother.

When Sephiroth returned from his first trip to Wutai, Vincent decided to try one of the “normal” family outings he’d heard of to help distance him from the horrors of war.

Fishing.

That they had to leave Midgar for it only helped even more with not thinking about anything Shinra required them to do on a regular basis. While packing, Sephiroth seemed to forget the things he had gone through in the place he had just returned from; curious about the concept of that new experience and definitely more like the child he should be instead of the soldier the company hoped him to be.

The only time he mentioned Wutai during that process was when he recalled the strange monstrous turtles that made their home near the beaches of that continent, the Adamantaimai. Rumors said the soup made with those was really good.

Vincent tried not to think much about the fact that Sephiroth could probably handle such a thing on his own, despite still being the child he was. Instead he tried to think — and talk — about fish, and how their little family trip would allow them proper time for bonding, just like regular parents and their children would do.

Stopping at a local gas station, Vincent gathered supplies. The old stout shop owner with a bucket hat adorned with fishing hooks that probably took out his left eye blabbered on about city folk “And y'all can't cast a line to save ya damn lives!” Vincent nodded along, picking baits and watching his son from the corner of his eye.

“Would you like a snack?” he asked. Sephiroth shook his head so Vincent grabbed a few chocolate bars and paid for his items before taking a local fishing guide.

Arriving at the river, they set up their rods, learned how to attach a sinker and hook and squished some oily frozen shrimp onto  the hooks, before casting their lines with a loud plonk. It was almost instantly did they both realise how boring fishing was. But like his father before him, Vincent was passing on the torch of manhood. And that came via spending several hours slowly going mad over stubborn fish who won't eat hooks.

About twenty long, silent minutes had elapsed and Vincent felt a twitch on his line.

“Looks like I've got one.” he said, reeling it in, and Sephiroth turned to him.

“Can we eat it for lunch? I'm getting hungry.”

“Sure. If it's a good size. You can't catch any fish and eat it. We need to keep these waters populous so more fish can survive and be made.”

Sephiroth just shrugged, watching the line skip closer then finally revealing an ugly fat fish that looked like evolution's failed art project. “What _is_ that?”

Vincent grabbed the fishing guide “Toadfish - poisonous pest of the riverways.” He unhooked the creature and threw it back in the water with a plonk, “Sorry Sephiroth, perhaps we will have to be more patient.”

Sephiroth quickly became discouraged by how badly he was fishing. He was another damn toadfish away from asking for a pizza delivery. Not to mention how frustrating it was every time he lost a large fish on his line and only managed to reel in complete utter crap - clumps of algae, a plastic fork, a rubber glove for a very long finger that Vincent quickly tossed back into the water, a bike handle. He had just won an entire war, how were these small creatures defeating him? Vincent tried to reassure him, but he wasn’t doing much better.

In a flash of frustration, Sephiroth threw a bolt along his fishing line into the fish struggling on it. He cheered as the creature floated to the surface and he started to reel it in. He turned to Vincent with a grin as he pulled it out of the water. He was confused why his father was frowning. Looking back to the lake he saw body after body break the water’s surface.

He didn't intend to kill all of them.

“Sephiroth,” Vincent said with a sigh, “Fishing doesn't need to be a war.”

“I know, but… it takes so long to catch anything!” He looked away, his grin fading and his bangs partly obscuring his face. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to get this one, not… well, all of them.”

“Maybe that’s not _all_ of them. How strong was that spell?”

“Uhn… it was just a little bolt?”

_Trust a “little bolt” to do that much damage when you’ve got a SOLDIER son_.

Vincent stared at the floating bodies, taking in the… casualties of Sephiroth’s fishing stunt, which seemed to decrease in number and stop completely at some point far away enough from the water’s edge that at least something had probably survived. Or so he hoped.

“A little bolt. I see.” He turned to Sephiroth. “Please don’t do that again,” he said, getting an awkward nod as a reply.

“So… dad? What do we do now?”

“We’re staying to pick up all these fish. Some of them must be good enough to eat. Or at least grab a photo with, so we can prove we succeed.”

Sephiroth gave him a confused look.

“Apparently that’s part of the process? You’re supposed to brag about how big of a fish you caught,” Vincent said with a shrug.

“In that case, should we just make a pile of them all? Surely quantity counts for something,” Sephiroth suggested.

Vincent smiled and nodded. Once the pile was assembled, Sephiroth carefully climbed on top of it, and Vincent snapped the photo. It would need to be framed and go on his desk for sure. He barely had any photos of his son, let alone one with such a huge grin. “Alright, let's get you cleaned up before we head back. Otherwise the truck we borrowed is going to smell of fish. Pick out a couple edible looking fish and I’ll cook them up while you change.”

As Sephiroth made his selection, Vincent couldn’t help but think that in the end, that wasn’t quite a “normal” family outing as he had expected it to be. However, it was far from being a bad day… except for the electrocuted fish that wouldn’t see another dawn, of course.

It turned out that they had enough edible fish to eat one serving each and repeat — in the case of Sephiroth, twice, but he couldn’t be blamed. He was still growing up, after all.

Stealing a glance or another at him as the boy finished eating, Vincent wondered whether or not he’d be taller than him, while trying to avoid the thought that it was likely that the war would require efforts from his son once again and that there was no telling how long Sephiroth would be away from Midgar next time. Could it be that he’d be gone for an entire year or more and hit a growth spurt that’d go unseen? Would that war ever end?

“Maybe we should do this again,” Vincent ended up saying.

“Fishing?” asked the boy.

“Not just fishing, there are many other places we could go to.”

Sephiroth’s eyes seemed to light up at the prospect of going somewhere else that didn’t involve fishing, only serving to strengthen Vincent’s resolve to take his son on another outing before duty called again.

With the life they lived, they couldn’t waste any possible moment of leisure, anyway.

 

—

 

Vincent glanced up from his paperwork to gaze at the collection of photos on his office wall. He had quite a few now. The newest, one of Sephiroth and his two First friends, was still on his desk. He hadn’t gotten a chance to get the tools off of maintenance to hang it yet. He considered doing that now, as none of the paperwork in front of him was going anywhere in a hurry.

He looked up from the photo as he heard his door open, surprised to see a dejected looking Sephiroth walk in. Vincent gestured to the chair across from him. “What’s wrong?”

Sephiroth took the chair, slumping far more than his father could recall seeing before. He hesitated. “I... met someone.”

“Do I need to shoot them?”

“What? No! I don’t want him dead!”

“Fair enough. So what is the problem?”

“He’s Angeal’s student.”

“That’s a temporary thing. Son, if you’re looking for me to talk you out of it because you think it’s inappropriate, well, I did meet your mother when I was supposed to be guarding her.”

“You did?” Sephiroth asked, leaning forward in his chair.

Vincent nodded, “I did. She was a scientist working with Hojo and I was assigned to protect them.”

“Did she die because you got too involved?”

“Did Hojo tell you that?” Vincent said, shaking his head. Sephiroth nodded. “No, that’s not why at all. Is that what you’re worried about? That getting involved with someone will get them hurt?” Sephiroth nodded again, looking downwards. “There’s a saying, ‘it is better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.’ When you’re grieving, it’s one of the worst things to hear, but with time you come to realize it’s true. I don’t regret my time with your mother, and I don’t think she would either.”

Vincent reached across the desk and took Sephiroth’s hands in his, gazing into bright green eyes, so different from the browns of his parents. Damn Jenova, and damn Hojo with her. “It’s worth trying. Let’s go for lunch, you can tell me about him.”

Sephiroth nodded his agreement.

As soon as they were seated again, waiting for their food, and the opportunity to talk more arose, he began to his father tell more about Angeal’s student. It was almost as though he was describing a little puppy: full of endless energy and impossible for one not to smile at, also ready to befriend whoever he met with such ease that had Sephiroth impressed. They were in a group when Angeal introduced them, after all, so he’d been able to see such a thing in action.

The other SOLDIER — whose name, Sephiroth had said was Zack — was different from him in that aspect, as Sephiroth tended to befriend very few people (or have them come to him wanting to be friends) and kept them quite close. And yet, as Vincent listened to him, he could see that little light in his son’s eyes that was definitely different from the one that came from the mako in his system.

It was somewhat like Lucrecia, whenever they’d had some free time and she decided that the weather was really good for a picnic or that they should dance together beneath the stars. Vincent couldn’t help but smile, getting lost in the nostalgia of it for a brief moment.

“You remind me of your mother,” he eventually said.

“Meaning?”

“You’ve just met him, but when you talk about him, you really light up.”

“...Oh.” Sephiroth’s cheeks took on a shade of pink that was rather intense given his pale features.

It felt like ages since the last time Vincent saw him blush over anything.

And moments later, he thought he’d never seen Sephiroth blush so intensely. But there seemed to be something else other than his remark that caused the effect, something he didn’t notice but that his son did, for he lowered his head just enough for the fall of his bangs to obscure his face.

“He’s here,” said Sephiroth, a little quieter than before, sounding both amused and anxious about his fellow SOLDIER choosing the same place as them to have lunch, “Gaia, he’s here. What do I do?”

“Go talk to him, maybe spend some time together.” At that, his son seemed mortified, so Vincent added, “It might be something awkward to do, but he sounds like someone who’s kind. I’m sure he’ll understand.” He couldn’t help but smile sympathetically as Sephiroth risked a look in Zack’s direction, then back at him, nervously. “You can do it, son. I believe in you.”

There was a very brief nod; anxious yet motivated by the little push that was offered.

Vincent watched as Sephiroth made his way to the other table and was granted permission to sit there by someone who, indeed, looked very much like a little puppy even from a distance; unruly black hair and clear enthusiasm as he talked, slowly bringing Sephiroth out his shell of awkwardness albeit not completely. At some point, Vincent was gestured at and Zack waved at him, energetically, earning a similar but more discreet response.

Sephiroth, he thought while waiting on his lonesome seat, would be alright. Eventually, that anxiety would fade into (hopefully, if all went well) joy, something to be celebrated.

Thinking on how far his son had come, despite all the odds and risks the kind of life they had brought them, Vincent couldn’t help feeling proud of the son he raised. It almost felt as if yesterday Hojo had shoved that little infant into his arms and along with the kid, all the challenges of parenthood. Gaia, did time fly, and with it so much was faced, so much was learned and so many memories were made.

He looked at the pair with a sense of accomplishment and happiness, before having to pick up a call from work.

Duty was constantly calling, yet moments like those had Vincent feeling thankful for where life had led him and for their unusual little family.

 


End file.
